That was a fun little fact in a blog post John Scarrow, Microsoft’s general manager for safety services, wrote about a recent update to Windows live Hotmail security. The company has added two new security measures to keep people from hijacking Hotmail users’ accounts.

Well, three, if you count the fact Microsoft’s security team will now lock out an account if they determine it’s been hijacked.

“We detect them with high confidence using heuristics based on login and account activity,” Scarrow wrote, “and stop the abuse by locking the hijacker out and closing back doors they may have set up, like using vacation auto reply messages to send spam. At the same time, we begin working with the rightful owner to reclaim the account, recognizing the urgency of the issue.”

Once that happens, legitimate users now have two additional ways to verify their identity. Until Monday, users had to supply two “proofs”: an alternate e-mail address and the answer to their secret question.

The first new proof is “trusted PC.” Microsoft is now allowing users to link their Hotmail accounts to their home PCs. “Then, if you ever need to regain control of your account by resetting your password, you simply need to be using your computer and we will know you are the legitimate owner,” Scarrow wrote.

The second is a user’s cell-phone number, to which Microsoft can send a verification code if a user requests a password reset.

From Scarrow’s post:

Additionally, (Monday’s) release is making account recovery more secure in Hotmail. Before you can add a new proof or change any existing ones, you will need to be able to access at least one existing proof. For example, if your account was already set up with an alternate email proof and you wanted to add a cell phone number as well, you would need to use the alternate email address to do it. This means that even if a hijacker steals your password, they can’t lock you out of your account or create backdoors for themselves. You will always be able to get your account back and kick the hijackers out.